Spring Break in AZ

Before vacation we had some laughs with our nerf gun war and pedicures.

Pre-Vacation Nerf Gun War

Team 1 

Team 2

Pre-vacation Pedicures

And then we were off...

The kids wasted no time hopping on the golf cart and picking oranges.

Trevor's birthday usually falls over Spring Break and this year was no different. Happy Birthday to Trevor!!! We celebrated by enjoying the sunshine, eating at Macayo's Mexican Restaurant and by attending the World Champions Chicago Cubs Spring Training Game at the Dodgers Stadium. Kids got balls autographs by Joe Maddon because Trace yelled "My sister wants your autograph" as Joe was walking away. Joe was impressed with Trace's chivalry, so signed their baseballs. Small world, Dave and Lana happened to be at the game too with seats right behind us! So excited to be in AZ.

We went to Cave Creek, AZ and found a nice desert trail to hike. It was very hot and Grandpa Wayne decided to sit this one out, but Grandma Sue joined in on the fun. We went into town afterwards and had a nice BBQ meal.

We spent lots of time by the pool soaking up some rays, resting, reading good books and even going on a date.

We ate way too much at Souper Salad

We celebrated Easter, grateful for Jesus' Resurrection.

We did a silly scavenger hunt around downtown Phoenix.

Trevor, Trace, Kaylee and Grandpa Wayne attended another Cubs game, this time at the new Cubs stadium, Sloan Park. Kaylee decided she likes taking stats.

On our final evening, the kids and I went horseback riding through the desert at sunset. It was quite picturesque and a unique experience. Unfortunately, due to Trevor's allergies and his international business trip to Singapore and France, Trevor was unable to join us.

We had an amazing time in AZ, that is until our last day there...

                                                  

The kids and I got up early to prepare for our flight. Trevor had already left for his international business trip to Singapore and France a couple days earlier. 

 

Grandpa Wayne made chocolate chip pancakes. Kaylee had one bite and I found her lying down on the couch holding her head complaining of her head hurting. She told us, she had just showered and had to sit down because she started feeling poorly. She began vomiting and continued to have a bad headache. I gave her ibuprofen, but she couldn't hold it down. The cycle continued. I ended up having to call the airlines to delay our flight until the following morning. She was able to sleep and felt a little better in the morning, so we headed to the airport. She didn't feel fabulous, but had stopped vomiting and her head didn't hurt as bad. We transferred planes in Denver and while passing by Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Kaylee decided she was hungry. She ate a pretzel and kept it down. Very encouraging. We got on the plane and flew back to Cedar Rapids without incident. That is until she got off the plane and sprinted to the bathroom to once again resume vomiting. Looking back this would be the first miracle. God got us home...

                                                    

From there, we went home and got Kaylee settled on the couch. I left her to recover while I went and got groceries and picked up Rizzo. Kaylee continued to feel poorly; vomiting and complaining of a bad headache. She couldn't keep anything down. Around 10 pm, I decided to call the doctor, who recommended I take Kaylee to the emergency room. Kianna and Trace were already asleep, so I called Grandma Becki, who came over to sit with them while I took Kaylee to the ER.

                                                    

Things moved very slowly at the ER. They hooked her up to an IV to get her hydrated and tried different medications to help with the pain, the pain persisted, although the vomiting did stop. After being there all night, the ER doctor came in around 5 am and said just to be safe he should probably due a spinal tap before sending us home. He explained to me that the cerebral spinal fluid is clear as he was doing the procedure, which Kaylee would later say was not a "tapping of the spine" as described. However, the fluid I saw was anything but clear, it was bright red. 

It was at this point that things moved into fast forward. Once the doctor saw the red cerebral spinal fluid he ordered a CT scan, which happened immediately, despite everything else having taken hours. It was at this point that I was able to get Trevor on the phone in France. While on speaker, the CT scan to our horror revealed an intraventricular brain hemorrhage. We were all shocked. A champlain came into pray with us. Pastor Dave came to the hospital to be with us. An ambulance was called to take us to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital and Trevor frantically began his journey of getting home to Kaylee.